If Last Week Was Any Indication, Our Game is in Good Hands
By Chuck Harty
At 6:50 p.m. last Wednesday, the 237th scheduled round in the storied history of the Post-Standard Amateur
concluded at Cazenovia Country Club. It was 48 degrees; the wind was blowing 25 miles per hour and it was nearly the
same when play began at 8 a.m.
It was tough out there, on par with a couple of rounds four decades ago, when I played in this event. They would be:
Round One in 1970 at Towne Isle, when Dan Spooner fired a one-over-par 71 in a driving rain, with every tee back as
far as it could go and every hole location as tough as the superintendent could find. The next best score was 78.
Then there was Round Four in 1973 at Lafayette CC (God rest its soul). There was no IRA Regatta on Onondaga Lake
that day. There were small-craft warnings issued and there probably should have been large-craft warnings. Wayne
Levi, who would go on to win 12 times on the PGA Tour, shot 86. A certain future Hall of Fame basketball coach we all
know and love, could only mutter again and again a one word sentence, his score for the day. "Ninety-seven," then
Syracuse University golf coach Jim Boeheim would continue to say with a sheepish grin, and eyebrows-raised over his
glasses.
But I digress.
In the 13-plus hours I was on the grounds at Caz. CC, working my 30th Herald/P-S Am, I received no complaints, not a
single one.
Not from the staff of the host club.
Not from my colleagues with the Central New York PGA, Alan Seamans, Ben Mastronardi, Ryan McGinnis and Brianna
Sovring, who have bought into how important this event has been and continues to be for amateur golf in Central New
York for seven decades.
And most importantly, not from any of the 146 players, whose scores ranged from the amazing, bogey-free 69 turned
in by Kevin E. VandenBerg all the way to 101.
And so it went at Cortland Country Club and Bellevue, where sun, wind and low humidity turned both beautiful layouts
into race tracks and sent scores soaring.
And through to Tuscarora, where Cavalry's Luke Hobika outlasted VandenBerg and former CNY PGA tournament
operations intern Eric Hofsommer for a record tying fifth P-S Am title.
No complaints, either from my few remaining contemporaries or from the dozens of teens and 20-somethings that
take up most of the feature pairings.
Between their parents, their PGA Professionals, their teachers and coaches, some really solid life skills have gotten
through to the very finest amateur golfers in Central New York.
Course management? I witnessed plenty of head scratchers.
Anger management? There honestly weren't too many candidates for two-a-days.
So many players took a moment to thank the tournament and respective host staffs for their efforts. And in a major
departure from decades past, the bar was empty 30 minutes after the trophy presentation.
You continue to hear from Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and others from that bygone era that the
professional game at the highest level is in a great place.
This long-time participant and observer of the area scene came away from last week encouraged about what's going on
around here, too.
We have a handful of really good players. And many more really good people.
So I wonder how many junior golf tours which began this millennium have an alumnus among the 156 golfers
beginning play Thursday in the U.S. Open. I dare say a precious few, but the Central New York PGA Junior Tour is one of
them, thanks to New Hartford's wondrous Derek Bard.
So, go ahead, PGA apprentice Ryan McGinnis, who directs the Central New York PGA Junior Tour, as our representative.
Stand up and be sure we are counted.
Stand up for Nathan Robbins, who put the Junior Tour together during his time on the Section staff and for then CNY
President Joe Tesori, who stood on the front lines and listened to protestations that our Junior Tour would doom the
efforts of other junior programs, like that of the Syracuse District
Didn't happen.
Ginny and Gene Meyle persevered. The SDGA Junior program is still a vibrant entity, providing excellent playing
opportunities. And Bard represented the SDGA in inter-district competitions and the prestigious Williamson Cup. He
also competed on the Cupp family's proud Mohawk Valley Junior Tour.
Anyone who has ever supported, volunteered, worked long hours for low pay in junior golf should stand tall during this
U.S. Open. Bard, who turned 21 this week, is just one of hundreds who benefitted from your gargantuan efforts and
who will be future leaders of golf in Central New York and elsewhere.
So stand up, Karen Lang, PGA, former PGA member Rob Neuser, Alan Seamans, PGA, a former CNY PGA Junior
Champion and current Section Executive Director, Rick Frederick, PGA, and Ben Mastronardi, PGA apprentice.
Take a bow, Meyles, Al Highducheck, Jack McCabe and all the Southern and Twin Tier folks, as well, including Steve
Volpicelli, PGA, who conducts many CNY PGA Junior Tour events in that region.
And let's not forget Trish Wheeler from our staff, who administered more than a few PGA Juniors with this writer many
moons ago, including the one Mr. Seamans won in 1997.
The good Lord blessed Derek Bard with considerable talent and he's worked his tail off to earn a spot in the world's
greatest golf tournament.
Bard, and so many like him, have been blessed by the efforts of dozens of hard-working, selfless folks I'm proud to call
friends. For them, this Open is even more special.
On Belmont Stakes weekend, Dan McCarthy pulled away like Secretariat in 1973.
McCarthy, the CBA and Le Moyne College grad, took another giant step toward promotion to the Web.com Tour no
later than 2017.
McCarthy won his second PGA Mackenzie Tour event in three weeks, to go with a T-6 last week.
He fired a 7-under-par 64 for a 72 hole total of 25-under-par 259 (a Tour record) at Gallagher's Canyon CC in Kelowna,
British Columbia, and won by seven strokes. He stands atop the money list with nearly $69,000 Canadian earned at the
3/11 pole on the Tour. The top five money earners at the end of the season earn status on the Web.com Tour. The
leading money winner is immune from any mid-season reshuffles throughout the '17 season.
“It sets me well ahead of everyone else, and now they’re chasing. I’m not going to let up and I’m going to keep my foot
on the pedal. These guys are really, really good up here, and I’m sure many of the guys will give me a run for my
money,” McCarthy told the media after Sunday's triumph.
McCarthy is 50 under par for the three events, easily the hottest golf being played on any major professional tour over
the last several weeks.
Great, but not unprecedented, not even for Onondaga County natives. Skaneateles' Tom Scherrer was 52-under in
three consecutive Web.com Tour events in 1995, a span in which he won once and tied for second in a pair of suddendeath playoff losses.